Thoughts on some recent reads:

I struggled to see the big deal is with Halter and Smay’s The Tangible Kingdom.  But by the time I got to the end of their memoir/ecclesiological manifesto, I found myself anxious to get back to church as they describe it.  Tangible describes an unpretensious church, where the unchurched and dechurched can belong before they believe.  It shows the messiness of doing life with those who are far from God.  It also paints the church as a simple, organic body that is more like a gathering of friends than a rock concert.  Halter and Smay are more interested in telling stories than laying out structure, which may be the books only downfall.  It shows you what your posture should be, but leaves the questions about how to organize.

Without adding to the glut of ministry books describing postmodernism, John Burke’s No Perfect People Allowed gives a thorough and practical treatment of how to do ministry today.  Each chapter explains a sociological reality, and gives examples of how a church that wants to reach their community will respond to it.  The tag line for Gateway Church is “Come as you are, but don’t stay that way.”  Burke tells the stories of homosexuals, atheists, and pagans who found a home at Gateway long before finding Christ.  Especially helpful are the chapters on the “Spiritual Litmus Test,” the questions of other religions and homosexuality, which must be addressed carefully.  The book is legitimized by how he “proof texts” his points by giving multiple personal stories and emails in every chapter.

With the hype about The Shack it’s hard to narrow what to say about it.  I will say this: it is an incredibly important book.  Young’s allegory of a man overcoming tragedy and coming to know God gives us a deep understanding of our brokenness and the wholeness of the trinitarian relationship God invites us into.  Those who focus on the short comings of Young’s picture of God don’t get what he’s trying to do.  For one thing, the Trinity is the deepest mystery of the Christian faith, so it’s naive to think any one parable would capture it all.  Despite it’s shortcomings, The Shack has given us an image of a divine relationship, and something to work towards in our walk with God and others.

Currently Reading Phyllis Tickle’s The Great Emergence.